Tag Archives: Baking

For a mother of two foodie kids, my mum is the first to admit she’s not that great at creative cooking, nor is she that interested in following wild recipes or just generally diving into unchartered culinary waters.

That said, she’s always got a sweet slice-of-the-moment to bring to a function, can whip up a perfect batch of scones to the family recipe and, every April, would mix up a tray of Anzac cookies for our ever-hungry young selves.

While the buttery, syrupy Women’s Weekly Beautiful Biscuits edition is no doubt delicious, there are some superb recipes doing the rounds at the moment that hardly sacrifice taste to get you an Anzac bikkie fix without wrecking your healthy wholefood eating goals.

Here’s the recipe I used: Version #1. They had the perfect balance of sweetness and crumbliness and not-too-hard-not-too-softness. I also already had all the ingredients in my pantry already – I hope you do too!

There’s some awful weather happening on the east coast of NSW at the moment: #newystorm and #sydneystorm streams on Twitter are full of fallen tree photos, assorted items which have blown into peoples’ yards and stories of people expecting to be without power for days. Plenty of businesses are closed, including schools and the university.

We’ve had sirens going constantly up and down the main road so it was greatly appreciated when the boss offered a work-from-home option. We’ve managed to keep our electricity flowing but the internet was out for most of the morning. Stay safe local people! Don’t leave your fortress unless you absolutely have to.

x Liz

P.s. Here’s some trivia for you: While it’s a commonly held belief that the Anzac biscuits got their name from the Australian and New Zealand Army Corps soldiers who devoured them, apparently they were mostly found at fundraising bake sales supporting the First World War effort. Myth busted!

Photo note: All by me, on my trusty iPhone & slightly touched up with the ABM Actions.

While The Lad & I have been co-habitating for sometime now, this week brought with it the moment our stuff had to also co-habitate. Moving all of my furniture, many clothes and many more shoes, jewellery and other assorted accessories into the house The Lad’s shares with a mate, has meant that beloved old commemorative polo shirts, toy model cars and similar boy accoutrements have been boxed up and shifted to the spare room.

Don’t worry, I’ve also downsized to help the squeeze in – three pairs of shoes and a couple of tees, dresses and other bits will be soon hitting the shelves at the local Salvo’s op-shop! In a bid to soften the blow of cushions entering The Lad’s man cave, I not only put his big trophies on display atop the bookshelf, I also made his favourite: this banana bread, subtly spiked with orange zest.

I’ve seen some criticism of this recipe on the interwebs due to people’s dislike of the orange factor but it’s the orange flavour that give it so much cred in this house. In tonight’s brew, I went against the recipe & also added a little handful of shredded coconut. I’ll totally do it next time too – big thumbs up.

Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius & get a loaf tin ready. I used a silicon loaf pan – my pick for non-stick

Throw all the ingredients except the reserved decorative orange slices in a mixing bowl & combine. I’m old school & prefer a wooden spoon – the original recipe recommends a food processor but whatevs you got, I say!

Once combined, pour into the loaf pan and fan your decorative orange slices across the top. I baked this loaf covered with foil for about half the cooking time to keep the oranges from going too toasty around the edges.

Place in the oven for one hour, or until an inserted skewer/knife/poker-of-some-sort comes out clean.